Irani takes her battle to TMC camp

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 27

A Lok Sabha debate on education sector allocations turned acrimonious today with HRD Minister Smriti Irani ending up offending the Opposition with her hyper combative defence. As she fielded accusations of academic interference and saffronisation of education hitting back at MPs, the Trinamool Congress demanded that she apologise for her “arrogance”, something she declined.
“If a charge is made, let us have the grace to hear the other side of the story,” Irani said trashing allegations made by TMC member and Harvard historian Sugata Bose in respect of top scientists quitting key positions. Bose had cited Anil Kakodkar, chairman of BoG of IIT Mumbai recusing himself from the process of selection of IIT Directors; IIT Delhi Director resigning and Irani filling ICHR with RSS ideologues rather than scholars.
“A professor has accused us of interfering with the ICHR. Who are ICHR members? They include Purabi Roy whose husband was a former CPI Rajya Sabha member and Sachidanand Sahay whom the previous The Congress government named epigraphy professor. And you accuse us of bias?” asked Irani who was recently dropped from the BJP’s 100-member plus National Executive.
The minister’s sharp rebuttal and finger pointing at Bose had the TMC leaders demand an apology which she refused saying, “Question doesn’t arise”.
The exchange got so bitter that attacks eventually became personal with TMC’s Sugata Roy standing in Bose’s defence to say, “The combative reply of HRD Minister is due to the pressures she faces from within her party”. Another Trinamool leader Kalyan Banerjee brought up Irani’s television history to say: “You can’t talk to Bose like that. He does not come from TV.”
While Irani kept provoking her Trinamool aggressors refusing to take the blame either for her conduct or manner, Treasury benche MPs sat through the duel silently with Home Minister Rajnath Singh present. A visibly perturbed Irani at one point said: “I didn’t know education would spread such venom around us”.
As she went on hitting back at MPs who had questioned her – from Bose and Congress’ Shashi Tharoor to Sushmita Deb – the opposition kept nudging her “not to be angry”. A temperamental Irani, however, kept fuelling the spat saying at one time to Sugata Bose, “Eminence doesn’t give you a licence to mislead the House. Anil Kakodkar is still chairman of IIT Mumbai BOG and IIT Delhi Director is still in his place.”
On Congress’ apprehension of saffronisation of education, Irani assured the House there should be none. “The PM has said the Constitution is his scripture. Education will only be imparted in the realm of the Constitution,” she said.